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Teacher Throws 1st Grader's Shoes in Trash in Humiliating Lesson

byEricka SouterSep 09, 2016

The words “school bully”
usually evoke images of means girls or towering brutes. But what if your child’s
tormentor was her teacher? That is the unexpected dilemma Greenville, S.C., mom Chartrese Edwards faced.

She had no idea something was
wrong until she was dressing her 6-year-old daughter Taraji for school one
morning.

Taraji began to cry and said,
“No mommy, I don’t want to wear those sandals.” After probing for a reason why,
the little girl explained that her teacher had thrown the shoes in the trash because
she wouldn’t stop fiddling with them.

“I was
messing with my shoes, and the teacher told me eight times or seven, and I
never listened,” Taraji admitted. She went on to tell her mom the strap had been bothering her.

The teacher then threw the shoes away and forced Taraji to walk
around barefoot for awhile before allowing her to retrieve them. For her part, the teacher admitted what she did. “She easily confessed,” Edwards said.

There's no doubt that
corralling a class of 6-year-olds can be frustrating at times. But is this
reaction too extreme? Were there other
options besides humiliating Taraji in front of her classmates? Perhaps sending
her out into the hall? What about asking her to remove the shoes and place them
under her desk until the lesson was over? Then send a note home that
the shoes are a distraction in class.

Greenville County School
officials are investigating the matter and, in a statement, said that they will
determine if discipline is needed. However, Taraji’s parents are reluctant to
send her back to the school.

“I feel like it was
malicious behavior,” Edwards said. “I’m angry about it because you could have
used a better method.”

The incident has certainly left the little girl shaken. “I
don’t want to get treated like that,” she said.

Now the family is contemplating
private school and have started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for that
extra expense. In the meantime, the school district has approved a teacher to
work with her at home.